Stimulus awareness is associated with secondary somatosensory cortex activation in an inattentional numbness paradigm.

While inattentional blindness and deafness studies have revealed neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) without the confound of task relevance in the visual and auditory modality, comparable studies for the somatosensory modality are lacking. Here, we investigated NCC using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in an inattentional numbness paradigm. Participants (N = 44) received weak electrical stimulation on the left hand while solving a demanding visual task.

Visual perceptual load and processing of somatosensory stimuli in primary and secondary somatosensory cortices.

Load theory assumes that neural activation to distractors in early sensory cortices is modulated by the perceptual load of a main task, regardless of whether task and distractor share the same sensory modality or not. While several studies have investigated the question of load effects on distractor processing in early sensory areas, there is no functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study regarding load effects on somatosensory stimuli. Here, we used fMRI to investigate effects of visual perceptual load on neural responses to somatosensory stimuli applied to the wrist in a study with 44 participants.

Effects of emotional valence and intensity on cognitive and affective empathy after insula lesions.

The insula plays a central role in empathy. However, the complex structure of cognitive (CE) and affective empathy (AE) deficits following insular damage is not fully understood. In the present study, patients with insular lesions (n = 20) and demographically matched healthy controls (n = 24) viewed ecologically valid videos that varied in terms of valence and emotional intensity.

Effects of awareness and task relevance on neurocomputational models of mismatch negativity generation.

Detection of regularities and their violations in sensory input is key to perception. Violations are indexed by an early EEG component called the mismatch negativity (MMN) - even if participants are distracted or unaware of the stimuli. On a mechanistic level, two dominant models have been suggested to contribute to the MMN: adaptation and prediction.

Differential effects of prediction error and adaptation along the auditory cortical hierarchy during deviance processing.

Neural mismatch responses have been proposed to rely on different mechanisms, including prediction error-related activity and adaptation to frequent stimuli. However, the hierarchical cortical structure of these mechanisms is unknown. To investigate this question, we recorded hemodynamic responses while participants (N = 54) listened to an auditory oddball sequence as well as a suited control condition.

Lateralized deficits in arousal processing after insula lesions: Behavioral and autonomic evidence.

A large body of evidence ascribes a pivotal role in emotion processing to the insular cortex. However, the complex structure and lateralization of emotional deficits following insular damage are not understood. Here, we investigated emotional ratings of valence and arousal and skin conductance responses (SCR) to a graded series of emotionally arousing scenes in patients with left (n = 10) or right (n = 9) insular damage and in healthy controls (n = 18).

Dissociating the Neural Correlates of Consciousness and Task Relevance in Face Perception Using Simultaneous EEG-fMRI.

Current theories of visual consciousness disagree about whether it emerges during early stages of processing in sensory brain regions or later when a widespread frontoparietal network becomes involved. Moreover, disentangling conscious perception from task-related postperceptual processes (e.g.

Dissociating neural correlates of consciousness and task relevance during auditory processing.

In recent years, several ERP components have been identified as potential neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), including early negativities and late positivities. Based on experiments in the visual modality, it has recently been shown that awareness is often confounded with reporting it, possibly overestimating the NCC. It is unknown whether similar constraints also exist in the auditory modality.

Differential Effects of Awareness and Task Relevance on Early and Late ERPs in a No-Report Visual Oddball Paradigm.

To date it is poorly understood how and when deviance processing interacts with awareness and task relevance. Furthermore, an important issue in the study of consciousness is the prevalent confound of conscious perception with the requirement of reporting it. This study addresses these topics using a no-report inattentional blindness paradigm with a visual oddball sequence of geometrical shapes presented to male and female human participants.

Amygdala enlargement and emotional responses in (autoimmune) temporal lobe epilepsy.

Temporal lobe epilepsy with amygdala enlargement (TLE-AE) is increasingly recognized as a distinct adult electroclinical syndrome. However, functional consequences of morphological alterations of the amygdala in TLE-AE are poorly understood. Here, two emotional stimulation designs were employed to investigate subjective emotional rating and skin conductance responses in a sample of treatment-naïve patients with suspected or confirmed autoimmune TLE-AE (n = 12) in comparison to a healthy control group (n = 16).

Early brain responses to affective faces: A simultaneous EEG-fMRI study.

The spatio-temporal neural basis of earliest differentiation between emotional and neutral facial expressions is a matter of debate. The present study used concurrent electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in order to investigate the 'when' and 'where' of earliest prioritization of emotional over neutral expressions. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) and blood oxygen dependent (BOLD) signal changes in response to facial expressions of varying emotional intensity and different valence categories.

No differential effects to facial expressions under continuous flash suppression: An event-related potentials study.

In recent years continuous flash suppression (CFS) has become a popular "blinding" technique for the investigation of nonconscious affective processing since it elicits potent and long-lasting suppression of conscious visual perception. While the majority of studies provides some positive evidence for nonconscious affective processing, there are also studies reporting their absence. Several methodological variations may give rise to this discrepancy: with respect to the experimental paradigm these variations pertain to the likelihood of residual stimulus visibility on the level of individual participants and single trials.